THE PHILIPPINE 



Journal of Science 



A. Chemical and Geological Sciences 

 and the Industries 



Vol. XII SEPTEMBER, 1917 



THE COMPOSITION AND MOISTURE CONTENT OF THE SOILS 



IN THE TYPES OF VEGETATION AT DIFFERENT 



ELEVATIONS ON MOUNT MAQUILING 1 



By William H. Brown and Angel S. Arguelles 



(From the College of Liberal Arts, University of the Philippines, 

 and the Bureau of Science, Manila) 



THREE PLATES AND ONE TEXT FIGURE 



In the Philippines, as in other moist tropical countries, there 

 are frequently decided changes both in the composition and in 

 the physical character of the vegetation even in very limited 

 areas. One of the most remarkable examples of this is the 

 frequency with which vegetation becomes dwarfed at compara- 

 tively low elevation. On Mount Maquiling a lofty forest occurs 

 at elevations up to 600 meters, while at an altitude of 1,000 

 meters the ground is covered by elfin wood. The object of the 

 work here reported was to determine whether or not the types 

 of vegetation on the eastern and southeastern slopes of Mount 

 Maquiling could be correlated with the composition and water 

 content of the soils. 



The soil of the Philippines is largely of volcanic origin. Cox 2 

 has published the results of a large number of analyses of soil 

 from different parts of the Archipelago. He concluded that both 

 the chemical and physical analyses indicated that the soil of the 

 Islands was on the whole fertile. Cox also shows that the distri- 

 bution of cultivated crops appears to be determined largely by the 



1 Received for publication June, 1917. 



' Cox, Alvin J., Philippine soils and some of the factors which influence 

 them, This Journal, Sec. A (1911), 6, 279-330, Pis. I-XI. 



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